Creak, creak, creak.
The floorboards of the Luxor theatre area creak beneath my feet as I step on to the empty stage, my eyes looking out in to the row of empty seats in front of me. I run my fingers through my hair, pushing the strands out of my face.
Remember when I used to be here to entertain, rather than the money? Nah, me neither.
I move towards the edge of the stage looking out at the invisible audience. A creek behind me makes me turn my head to see Odette Stevens, my loving wife standing by the side of the stage.
"Gonna show me a trick?" Odette says with a wicked smile across her lip.
I turn to face Odette, moving towards her.
"Oh, I can show you a trick or two" I reply with a quick wink.
As I reach Odette, I pick her up, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around before placing her back on a vertical base. Odette reaches her arms up, wrapping them around my neck.
"What brings you to this..." Odette trails off, before resuming "Well, this horrid place. This place looks disgusting these days."
"To think I used to spend my life in here making people smile." I say with a slow shake of my head. "I just come down here to get away from that crowd that seems to be following us, because of this stupid Make A Wish bullshit."
Odette nods in slight agreement.
"Why the hell was so many appearances booked for everyone, no matter where they are?" Odette complains "Heaven forbid they let their talent actually rest."
"It's all because these bent bosses wanna look good in the publics eyes" I explain "Out of all the charities they could have gone for, they went for the one that everyone uses. It's lazy, it's stupid. Make A Wish is something everyone does, how about something different like Help For Heroes. Where people give up their lives, get the shit blown out of them and deserve better to come home to."
I slowly shake my head.
"Nope, not in SCW, let's just jump on the bandwagon like everyone else." Disdain drips from my voice.
"So you're hiding out in here?" Odette asks.
"Not as such." I reply "But needed a moment or two to stop being hounded by everyone going on about this stupid event. We're a fucking wrestling company, but hey, anything to boost the image of the egotistical driven owners."
I look down at Odette, placing my lips on to her forehead,
"You know what?" I start "Fuck this, let's get outta here and do something"
Odette smiles, nodding her head....
The Las Vegas Strip. Famous from countless television shows and movies.... if you haven't seen a show or movie based in Vegas, you must be dead. The tourist hotspot where millions of dollars are wastes every single day.
The camera focuses on my lovely wife, her arm linked tightly around mine as she pulls herself close to me as we step down the road, drawing stares from the crowd.
"Last time people got this many stares, Despy was walking my tiger for a walk down here." I say casually
Odette looks up at me with a smile.
"So another Supercard baby." I say trailing off
"Yeah, I can't believe they're making you face that loser." Odette says with a disgusted tone.
"Oh that doesn't worry me." I start "But barbed wire..."
Odette and I stop walking as Odette turns in front of me, putting her hands on my arms.
"Don't worry about me." She says firmly "I've been waiting a long time to get a hold of Vixen and because there's barbed wire there, makes things so much better. All those posters, all that look at me shit, it will stop after running her face in to those barbs. I'll be doing the world a favor."
I put my hands on Odette's hips.
"I love it when you talk all aggressively" I whisper as I move my face to her ear.
I move my lips towards Odette's, but a voice catches my attention.
"Hey!" The male voice yells "It's Gabriel and Odette Stevens!"
"Ugh." I mutter under my breath.
I turn my head to see a man leading a family of four towards us. My eyes move from his middle aged face, to his round bodied wife, to his daughter, maybe a recent teenager, and his fair haired son, maybe about seven years old. I put my lips back to Odette's ear.
"Can I just do the magic flash and we disappear?" I ask Odette.
"Too late baby" Odette whispers back "They're so close now, they can smell your aftershave."
"Hi!" The man says excitedly "I'm sorry to bother you, but my family and I are big fans! We're here in Vegas to see the SCW show!"
"Good for you." I reply dryly as I turn to face them. "I wouldn't bother putting money in to a place filled with shit management, but whatever floats your boat."
As I swear, the woman covers the young boys ears.
"You want the truth or you want to sit there in blind ignorance?" I ask.
The man and the woman look at each other then back to Gabriel and Odette.
"What do you mean?" The woman asks.
"SCW is a fraud my dear lady." I start "All they care about it public image, not the well being of some superstars, just their friends. They don't allow their wrestlers to rest, they set up public appearances and expect us to all play nice, but it's not for our benefit."
"I don't understand." The middle aged man says.
"What my husband means" Odette says "Is that if you're not friends with the powers that be, they take your talents for granted. Anything to make themselves look good."
"So they don't care?" The little boy asks.
I get down to a knee, in front of the little boy, looking at him in the eye.
"No." I reply "All they want is mommy and daddy's money."
The little boy clings on to his mothers leg as I stand back to my feet, putting my arm around Odette's waist, looking at the family.
"See, SCW didn't make us. We worked hard for SCW, and you people have paid your money to see me in a match with an absolute nobody" I say firmly "Now, if I was taking on someone better, in a match which would be a classic, your money would be well spent, but what you've done is spent your money to watch me take on a useless wrestler who isn't in my league. I recommend you don't take a piss break during my match because it's gonna be over quickly."
I nod firmly, with a smile on my face.
"So we shouldn't have bought tickets?" The teenage girl asks.
"Well my guess what you didn't buy tickets but ya mum and dad did" I say with a smirk "But not matter young un. It was worth buying a ticket to see my wife main event, where she belongs, but you need to know what you're spending your parents money on here. Don't buy in to this Make A Wish shit that is getting shoved down your throat, it's all about the public image."
"Make A Wish is a great charity" The woman argues.
"It's an overused charity." I respond "No originality, just the one the staff thought they can score more points from."
The young boy tugs at his mothers top. The mother looks at myself and Odette.
"Could we have your autographs and we'd leave you to your day." The woman asks.
I quickly point to the woman's bag, hanging off her shoulder.
"It's already in your bag." I reply with a hint of arrogance.
The woman reaches through her handbag, pulling out a picture of myself and Odette, already signed. She reads the words out loud.
"To the Barnes Family, remember what we told you, Gabriel and Odette Stevens." The woman mutters "How did you know our name?"
I smirk at the family, turning around and holding Odette's hand as we stroll away. Odette looks up at me.
"How did you do that?" She asks me.
"Magic baby." I reply with a smirk.
The camera fades out as Odette and I continue to walk down the Vegas Strip.
Oh so silent since I attacked Christian Underwood.... there's a time and a place for words and congratulations to you people listening to this, because this is the time, and this is the place.
Do you see the irony in the attack? Christian's vision was taken away, who's to say if he can see now, Erik Staggs and Mark Ward feared for their own well being, so didn't come out to address me last week. Fools, I wasn't even in Arizona, but Christian put me in the match with a blind man not long ago, he needed to know what it felt like to be blind, to feel helpless, just so he knew what danger that man was in. Sometimes, you need to feel the way others do, who's to say without your sight Christian, I couldn't stalk you and finish the job on you, leave your little buddy Geno Jr all unprotected and leave it in the hands of non existent Gods? You deserved what you got Christian, just for turning SCW in to a joke by pushing your little buddies son. That is a mistake I'm gonna make you remember every second until that title switches hands.
It's no surprise I'm rooting for Drake Green to end the madness at Into The Void III. The favoritism will end and I expect to see Drake, Equinox, Jamie Dean and my darling wife Odette, do their parts to stop the bosses favorites from gaining more success.
Me?
I guess I got the short end of the stick again. The only true talented man on the roster gets stuck in a match with Jon Dough, a nobody of a competitor....
Drawbacks of destroying a boss I would guess.
No matter, because once more, another mismatch will take place that will put another superstar in danger, another NXT superstar, but hey, that's just a bonus. I will take this one on the chin, because you wisely booked Odette to main event, a place she should never have left, or been pushed from. At least the powers that be got one thing right from this piss poor excuse for a supercard.
So Jon Dough, man of the fans, giving away free shit like it's going out of fashion....
No...
Wait...
That was the old Jon Dough, the new Jon Dough does nothing at all. He turns up, he wrestles and he goes home. There's no more time for the fans, there's no fun little interludes, there's nothing. The reason for this Jon, is painfully obvious, it's right in front of your eyes, it's right there looking at you and waving at you. It's the New XTremes Jon, they've done what they did to every other superstar before you and now they're doing that to you. They have taken your likeability away and you know why?
Because people are bored of them.
It's true, people no longer care about NXT because they do nothing, there's no unity, there's no solidarity, there's no family feeling, no sense of belonging and it's robbed you of your very soul, it's taken away your essence, it's stole your likeability.
How can you not see this, Jon? Everyone can, hell Christian Underwood can, and he doesn't see much these days.
This Jon is why you've become a no one and fed to the likes of me. You had so much going for you, and you got stuck with that no showing waste of everyone's time, Connor Murphy, you've been anonymous and you've lost your shine Jon, because NXT... they're poison. They change their line up every three months to try and have people riding on their coat tails, they do all they can to get themselves noticed, but alas, they take away your smile and make you become a shadow of who you used to be. There's a reason there hasn't been a NXT heavyweight champion for a long, long time Jon.
It's not coincidence.
This is why you're on the endangered list right now, because they have stolen any chance, however remote, that you had against me. They took it from you and made you look worthless. It's a bad place to be, you're pretty much defenseless. Let's not use the hunter stalking pray thing, cause well, Equinox will probably bitch because he's forever talking random shit like that, but let's look at it like this.
You've had a night out with the boys, it's been a long one, you've been up since five in the morning, by the time you meet the boys, it's fourteen hours later. You have a couple of beers and already the effects kick in, but that's not good enough for the boys, you have a few more beers and to stop yourself looking like a pussy, you keep up, but that tiredness, it's getting you drunk quicker. You wanna give up, but no, someone gets in a round of shots, and to not look like the weakest in the group, you nail that shot, then the second, then the third. Tiredness has really kicked in now, mixed with the alcohol, your eyes are shutting fast. You want to leave but no one else does, but the alcohol gives you that courage to walk out on the streets alone, feeling no fear. You stumble through an alleyway, thinking you're tough enough to take on anyone, but out of the shadows, someone steps out and hits you hard, sending you flying. Taking your wallet, your watch, your phone. The alcohol has made you sloppy, it's made you defenseless and as much as you try and stumble to your feet, the kicks keep on coming because you are an easy target.
Why am I telling you this?
Because NXT is that alcohol, it's made you think you are stronger then you are, and then I come out of the shadows and kick the living fuck out of you and take what the hell I want. See, it's always dangerous to walk through those dark streets, but when your mind is screwed up as bad as yours is because of that poison running through your veins. It just takes one person with no regard for your safety to step in your way and you're in serious amounts of trouble.
Guess you're now in the shit, eh Jon? You're my punishment to what I did to Christian.
Some punishment....
No big match on the card for poor Gabriel, stuck in midcard against a jobber who got his arse kicked by Rage not long ago. If Rage could smash the shit out of you so easily, what do you think I'm gonna do? This is where The Sins are better than NXT, we fight as unit, we train as a unit, where you and your NXT group of jobbers are just that, a group of jobbers with no connection.
But is this really punishment when I can use you to send a message to the world?
Nope, this is gonna be piss easy, something I can dominate, something I can use to send a message to Christian Underwood, to show him that I should be up there. This is really wrong place, wrong time for you Jon, because you won't be moving too well after I'm done with you, you won't be showing up on too many more wrestling shows for a while.
It's true Jon, you just have to live with it. The management has put you in a bad spot, just by putting you in the ring with me, it's a place no one wants to be. When I'm done ripping you apart Jon, you need to wonder who you pissed off. To me, this is just a match to keep my skills in check, a chance to keep the claws sharp, but for you, it really is the end of the world. It's like you're being chased by an axe murderer while standing on the edge of a cliff.
Either way, you're fucked.
Being in the ring is the same thing when you're faced with an opponent like me. No matter what you do, no matter what you try, no matter how hard you work, and how you dazzle the crowd, the end result will be the same, either way, you're fucked.
You should start making plans for your sooner than expected retirement Jon, because it's gonna happen very very soon. In just over a week, your career will be over, another message will be sent to Christian Underwood and his bunch of crooked friends and once again, I will follow through on my word, to be standing tall when all this is said and done.
No one can help you Jon, you just might as well admit defeat now.
May God have mercy on your soul, Jon Dough....
.... Because I won't!
